Wednesday 30 October 2013

Amanda Weight Loss Viral Video

Look at Amanda X as she loses weight! Amanda (last name unknown) started taking a pic of herself tobetter moderate  her weight loss efforts and in one year she lost an incredible 88 lbs going from fat to svelte! A Reddit user condensed the pics to a 5 sec gif of Amanda losing 88 lb and the clip is truly amazing and inspiring.

In fact inspiring enough for me to take a shot of self (though not enough to share!)



Woman's Time-Lapse Weight Loss Video Goes Viral | ABC News Blogs - Yahoo

Wednesday 23 October 2013

BMI Calculator

A BMI calculator is just one way to keep a track of a healthy body weight. Though there have been many criticisms of the BMI - for example it doesnt take into account muscle weight vs fat weight - its a good way to keep a check on whether one remains in the healthy zone by normal people.


Powered by BMI Calculator

Monday 21 October 2013

Why Its Easier To gain Weight Than to Lose Weight?

I have heard this refrain hundreds of times - "I have only got to breathe air to gain weight" or "I go to the gym but havent lost any weight" or just simply "Why dont I lose weight?"

Let me tell you why.

No this is not going to be a brutal dissemination of your terrible eating habits. Just some plain fact about calories and how we gain them and lose them.

How much calorie to lose/gain 1 kg

It takes approximately 7700 calories to lose 1 kg of fat.

Suppose one goes about one's normal work eating normal everyday food. A 65-68 kgs person would need approximately 1800 calories in a day. The regular food we consume will total upto more or less that. By regular food I mean a bowl of cereal for breakfast with juice, some carbohydrates, protein and vegetables for lunch, some snacks and a regular supper. Nothing  high carbohydrate or junk included.

How we consume extra food without knowing

Suppose one consumes a pastry or a bag of chips extra - that would easily make 250 cal extra daily. Having an extra something and most often more than an extra something like one rich meal (atleast 500 cal extra), a couple of extra beer (again +500) calories - one would easily rack up a total of 7500 in a matter of 30 days.


People gradually put on weight forgetting about the little somethings they eat. They think "Ok, I will exercise it off" - and never get around to it. And what about the exercise?

Does a little exercise help? Lets do some calculations.

Lets say I have had a 4-5 beers in the week, had biriyani twice, consumed some crunchies with my drinks - and havent counted my calories. Lets count the extra calories.
4-5 beers - 1000 cal at least
Biriyani (or something equally rich) - 1000 cal at least - and more if Mutton Biriyani
Cunchies - 300 cal - lets say

I have not included any sweets here and already I am overcaloried by 2300!

Does the above calculations of overindulging sound plausible? I would say so. If its not the drink - then its the pastries or sweetened juice or fried wantons or something.

How periodic, unplanned exercise is not enough

So I plan to work it off on the weekend.

I walk /jog 5 kms twice a week. At approximately 60 calories per km (unless one is walking uphill) - I manage to lose around 600 calories. With more exertion I manage to shed 1000 calories. Believe me, if one is not a fitness freak and goes overboard - that is what one is likely to shed with diligent exercise twice or thrice a week.

Lets go back to the calculations again.

I have taken 2300 calories and lost 1000 calories in a week. I have an extra of 1300 calories. No heavy obvious bingeing, no drinking spree, no living off junk food - and I have gained 1300 calories extra in a week. In 6 weeks I will likely put on 1 kg, in one year 8 kgs or more. (52 wks X 1300 cal/7700cal = 8.8 kgs).

And it goes on for years. One puts on weight kg by kg, pound by pound, relentlessly, and before one knows it one is overweight!

I still dont know how I am gaining weight. I feel I am an occasional drinker. I dont party or overeat all the time, I do regular exercise in my opinion. But I am still gaining weight!

So do you see how its so much easier to gain weight than to lose weight!

What does one do about it?

You have diagnosed the problem. In my opinion - knowing why one is gaining weight is the biggest step in the direction of weightloss and an eventual healthy life.

How to shed that weight? Now that will be another article. Or a long process!

Sunday 20 October 2013

Workout - 19/10/2013

My Workout Regime for the day

Feeling positively awash with goodwill today. Had another great workout yesterday.

Here's how it went

Stretching

Round 1 

  •  5 mins on the elliptical (read - 65 cal)

  • A set of legs and arms workout on the home gym (Leg press, Leg Extension, Shoulder press), 100 twists on the spinner

Round 2 

  • 11 mins on the treadmill (read - 100 cal)

  • 2nd set of muscles workout

Round 3 

  •  54 Mins on the treadmill (Read - 612 cal)

Maximum intensity - Incline 12, Speed - 6.7 km/hr

Check out the stats here














Finally did some post exercise lounging around, watching TV, listening to songs loud and cooling down :)

Friday 18 October 2013

Workout - 17/10/2013

Today's Workout Log


7 Rounds around the campus

Time - 50 mins: Distance - 4 kms approx. I have to set my pedometer properly. It gets disconnected with too much movement of my arms!

Intensity - Not too high. Considerably hampered by gossiping

Feeling - Great

Gym - 3 rounds of leg press, leg extension, twister, arms crunch followed by a 5 mins on the vibration plate

Today's Food Log


Breakfast - 4 pooris and alu sabzi from Ganguram :-)
Lunch - Normal with saag, karela, mixed veg, daal and a little rice
Bsicuits - 4 Maries
Sweets - 1 Nalen gurer sandesh
1 bowl Papaya
Dinner - 1 plate homemade mattar chat (with farsan/chips on top)

Now how do I sum up these calories????

Wednesday 16 October 2013

Yesterday's Workout!

Finally got around to doing some real kicka.. workout yesterday. In fact two days in a row.

14th October - 6 rounds around the campus (I estimate a distance of 650 or so mts per round) after my last workout on 5th October. It was a relief to get out of the house with a friend and move around after awating a major Hurricane (Phailin), antcipating, preparing and then tiding over it - over the weekend. Not much damage around the campus except a few broken limbs (from trees, silly) and lots of leaves and twigs.

15th Oct - 8 rounds including some slow jogging  (again with above friend) which felt truly satisfying. Continued onto the gym. Did 3 rounds of weights for legs and arms and then the blessed relief of the vibration plates.

I know these variety of exercise will help better eventually - but there is nothing more adrenaline busting than watching the calorie count going up up on a treadmill!

Here's to more exercise!

Did I spoil it all with a beer tonight? Cannot be helped - sigh. i do so wish I can avoid those mixtures and ...

Monday 14 October 2013

10 Benefits of a Bowl of Papaya for Breakfast


It is a well known fact that papaya has a huge cache of benefits asociated with it. Together with green tea - papaya is the most revered of food that nutritionists and dieticians recommend. And with good reason.

The 10 Benefits of Papaya

 Reason # 1 to eat papaya

Unlike many other healthy food - a rich ripe papaya tastes like heaven. Its sweet and slightly sour taste provides just the required kickstart to a glorious feeling throughout the day. For a sustained diet of any food - it has to taste good - papaya has that going for it in loads!

# 2 - The fruit is available throughout the year. So it can form a part of any dietary plan in any season.

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 # 3 - Its health benefits are myriad. It contains an enzyme Papain that helps in natural digestion.

# 4 - A bowl of Papaya can provide about 10% of our daily requirement of natural dietary fibre and helps in clear bowel movement.

# 5 - It is a rich natural source of Vitamins A, C, E and flavonoids like Beta carotine  and thus a rich source of anti-oxidant nutrients. These vitamins strengthen the body immune system and what better way to get them then from a natural and easily available source? Papaya similarly has anti-inflammatory properties because of the presence of its unique enzymes.

Check out the Papaya Nutrition content here

Papaya Nutriton Content

# 6 - Lower Sugar (than Mango) - A small bowl of papaya (100 g) contains about 43 calories and 8 g of sugar. Compare it with Mangoes. A 100g intake of ripe mango will have about 14 g of sugar and 60 calories. (all nutrition facts from google search results ) Thankfully mangoes are a seasonal fruit! It is advisable not to take more than 20-22 g sugar in a day. Am not sure if natural sugar is ncluded in that, though.


# 7 -  Beauty Benefits - Papaya is a good source of natural food for a healthy skin. While a dab of mashed papaya can make a good skin pack and skin lightener, the vitamin A in papaya ensures a clear skin tone and good eye sight.

# 8 - Low Sodium, Potassium Rich - The low sodium content of Papaya is a major boon as it prevents water retention. Potassium in the fruit helps control hypertension.

# 9 - Unripe papaya is frequently used as a meat tenderizer while cooking meat dishes - like mutton and lamb. The enzyme papain breaks down the tough meat fibres and makes cooking easier. However the unripe papaya should be eat cooked as direct intake of the enzyme could have adverse effects.

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# 10 - Eating the bowl of papaya has other periphery benefits like healthy hair, good eye sight, clear skin; papain is extracted from papaya for dietary supplements, raw papaya is used everywhere from a face to a hair mask, to a wound soother.

I am really however not sure how many of those periphery benefits are supported by science and facts. Papaya has been touted as a great weight loss enabler. The only way I can see papaya helping to lose weight is because it makes a filling zero cholesterol meal. Be sure to continue counting your sugar when you eat a load of ripe papaya based diet.

I have been having papaya for breakfast for the last so many years and i like to believe it has helped me be a healthy person. It makes a wonerful and healthier filler when you want to nibble on chocolates or chips.

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Papaya definitely needs it be added to one's diet.

Thursday 10 October 2013

How to do Suryanamaskar (With Illustration) - Health, Fitness, Meditation and Prayer

How 12 Rounds of Surya Namaskar is all your Body Needs

Surya Namaskar or the salutation to the Sun God has long been accepted by Indian culture to provide a deep aligning of the mind, body and spirit. these asanas passed down from ascetics and refined by yoga Gurus has been practised for centuries early in the morning as a form of salutation to the Sun God Surya.

The modern day or current popularity of Surya Namaskar can be directly attributed to Sr sri Ravi Shankar and his Art of Living good living cell - as the popularity and following of Pranayama by millions can be attributed directly to Baba Ramdev.

How to Do Surya Namaskar
Suryanamaskar

The Surya Namaskar yoga consists of 12 asanas in an inviolable sequence

# 1. Stand with your palms together (Namaskar pose) and your feet together in Pranamasan

# 2 Ardha Chandrasan-  Lift the arms up and back in a slow fluid movement so as to stretch the entire body. Keep the arms close to the head and push the pelvis slightly forward to stretch better.

# 3 Bend forward from your waist to touch the mat

# 4 With both palms on the mat, move your right leg backward with knee on the floor. Left foot should be between the palms and head tilted looking up

# 5 Take the left leg back, keep the arms straight, feet on the ground in an inclined plank

# 6 Parvatasana - Raise the hips up while looking down. Palms and feet are on the ground. The position as the name suggests is like a mountain or an inverted "V"

# 7 Lower the knees, chest, chin to the floor. Raise the hips slightly.


# 8 Bhujangasana - Raise your chest and look up like a cobra. Back should be in an arc.

# 9 Repeat Parvatasana - Raise the hips up while looking down. Palms and feet are on the ground.

# 10 Go to position # 4 with the alternate set of feet - right foot at the front and the left leg stretched back.

# 11 Position # 3, ie bending forward from the waist while touching the ground

# 12 Same as position # 2 - Ardha Chandrasan - arms raised up and the body stretched outward.

End with the Namaskar which is the start of the second leg of one cycle in which you move the right leg forward first in Step # 4

Check out the illustration of Surya Namaskar .


Saturday 5 October 2013

600 Calories on Treadmill - Tum dee dum

I worked out 600 calories on treadmill today. This is by far my BEST EVER effort on a treadmill. I had done 600 calories one roughly 10 months back when I was preparing for the marathon. However then since my concentration was on jogging - I couldnt log much calories even though I worked out longer.

Today's workout log

Calories Burnt - 600 cal
Workout - walking on incline on treadmill
Distance covered - 5 kms
Time - 50 mins

Maximum incline - 13
Maximum intensity - jogging for 1 min at 7 km per hour speed on 13 incline.

Followed this workout with some crunches, leg press and 6 minutes on the Vibration Plate

Feeling - good!

This workout came about after losing around 1.5 kgs this week because of an upset stomach which compelled me to a minimal diet. I feel positively lightweight and timble toed ;-)

Sandra Bullock - Gravity and Age Defying Fitness

I just read the review of Gravity in which Sandra Bullock plays a lost in space astronaut. At 50, Bullock is getting rave reviews for her yummy appearance.

Bullock was always one my favorite people on screen. With this performance (which I will be sure to watch) my admiration for her has gone up a notch or two. Just one generation back - 50 was considered to be irretrievably old. Male actors have transcended the 50 years barrier with meaty roles for sometime. Women havent been so lucky. Good roles yes - but "gravity" defining roles at 50 - cant remember any!

Bullock's role which must have demanded a load of stamina is a tribute to her fitness. Sandra trained specifically for her "weightlessness" in the movie. She admits she pushed her body to the extreme during training.

Read about how Sandra trained for Gravity here.

Bullock's fitness regime is apparently a combination of dance routines for cardio, yoga and pilates. She revealed on Today Show to Jay Leno recently that she does kick boxing and rides a bike whenever she can and runs when she is in Austin.

Sandra Bullock Workout Regime

Sandra's workout by as prescribed by her trainer Eden Paul includes
Squats
Reverse Lunges
Push ups
Dumbbell Workouts
Scissor Kicks for those killer abs
Side Lunges

Sandra reportedly has been working recently with Simone De La Rue at the Body by Simone Dance Studio on
Yoga, Pilates and Dance Cardio. She apparently puts in one hour every day six days a week with Simone to get her killer looks.

The number 1 in DVD workouts at Amazon


Best of Fitness DVDs

Sandra Bullock Diet

What diet does Sandra follow? Sandra apparently maintain her looks and fitness by a healthy eating habit. She has revealed at times that she doesnt have a specific diet plan as such but avoids junk food. She apparently cheats a day a week.

Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred

Such an example of health and fitness coupled with true beauty and acting skill - deserves a shout.

Keep it up Sandra!

Wednesday 2 October 2013

A Healthy Run - That Was Not Healthy!

A 5 km run is just going to be a stroll in the park, right?

Wrong. If it has been organised by Apollo Hospital, if the runners are made to wait for an hour after the schedule of the run for the numerous guests, chief guests to stroll in, if there is no line marking the starting area - that the DJ co-ordinating the run has to shout herself hoarse, threaten, cajole, plead to get the runners into a supposed starting line which had already been changed twice, if there is absolutely no water along the way, if... the list goes on.

I am talking about the Run for a Healthy heart Run organised by Apollo Hospital Bhubaneswar on 29th September to mark a Healthy Heart day.  If "organised" is a word that can be used for the event.

The saddest part was there were many young children and older people who had come with such enthusiasm. It was touted as an everyman run. But apparently they forgot to provide water. I completed the near 5 km distance in 35 minutes, my son in 30 minutes - and if as claimed by the organisers the water was finished on the way - was it only provided for the professional athletes? For God's sake - we are not talking about fancy stuff that runners need - just water.

It was okay for me - but what about the 1000 odd casual people who had strolled in for such a run seeing the delightful ads? How can dehydration help a heart? Or did Apollo spend all the money for the event on the ads?

I guess it is a mistake being lured into such events by the general noise.

The only heartening thing about the run was the participation and general discipline and enthusiasm of the runners - despite everything.

And of course it didnt rain!